It follows his name. Samsung Lions’ Lwin Diaz (28) had a spectacular initiation ceremony with his signature home run in the eighth inning.
Diaz started the game against the Lotte Giants of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on Sunday and recorded two hits, one homer, two RBIs, two runs and two strikeouts from four times at bat. Samsung defeated Lotte 5-3 with Diaz and Kang Min-ho’s home runs, chasing the top-ranked KIA Tigers by 5.5 games.
Diaz drew attention with his extreme form in his four at-bats. He struck out swinging in the bottom of the second inning, had a right-handed hit in the fourth inning, and again struck out swinging in the sixth inning. Meanwhile, Kang Min-ho hit a three-run shot in the fourth inning, but gave up two runs in the first and sixth innings, continuing a 3-3 close game.
Diaz left a strong impression at the last batter’s box. With one out and a runner on the first base in the eighth inning with the score tied 3-3, he hit a fastball of 142 km/h on the fourth pitch, and connected it to a two-run shot 130 meters behind the right-center field. He thus felt a sense of home run as soon as he hit the ball. Won Tae-in and Koo Ja-wook, the core players of Samsung’s pitching and hitting, welcomed Diaz back to the dugout by taking big actions.
Samsung signed a contract with Diaz, a foreign hitter, for a total of 170,000 dollars (about 230 million won) as a substitute for Ruben Cardenas on the 14th. It was an urgent recruitment a day before the deadline for foreign player registration. After playing a game at Futures on the 16th, Diaz immediately played a first-team match against the NC Dinos on the 17th.
Diaz, who played four games each in Changwon and Pohang, made his first appearance to Daegu home fans through the game against Lotte on the 23rd. And in the eighth inning when Eldorado rang, he hit his first home run in just four at-bats, drawing cheers from home fans. Diaz has been performing well to meet expectations with a batting average of 0.350 (7 hits in 20 at-bats) and two homers, four RBIs and an OPS of 1.050 in five games until the 23rd. 먹튀검증
Earlier, Samsung had been agonizing over two failed attempts to recruit foreign batters. David McKinnon, who was hired in the first half of the season, left the team as soon as the start of the second half, remaining with a batting average of 0.294 with four homers, 36 RBIs and an OPS of 0.767 in 72 games. Cardenas, who was brought in as a substitute, showed outstanding performance in seven games with a batting average of 0.333, two homers, five RBIs and an OPS of 1.027, but was embroiled in a controversy over his poor performance by missing 20 games due to back pain.
Having rarely been helped by foreign hitters, Samsung recruited Diaz at the end of three innings and built up a complete lineup. Samsung has 143 home runs in 120 games without any foreign hitters this season, and is armed with the might of the strongest cannonball corps in the league. In addition, Samsung has secured its name as well as a foreign hitter who calls for victory, completing its batting lineup without a break.